US evangelist hopes to reach millions with Russian, Spanish Christmas livestream
A new international Christmas Eve livestream led by evangelist Nick Hall is expected to reach millions of Russian and Spanish speakers with the Gospel.
While Hall’s millennial-focused evangelism group PULSE had hosted live Christmas events in the United States over the past decade, COVID-19 forced him to change plans and instead use the budget for two free international broadcasts in Russian and Spanish.
“We hope for 5 million or more people who will watch the broadcast,” Hall told The Christian Post. “In the midst of a crazy 2020, we really just felt like this was such a great opportunity to tell the story of Christmas in the right way.”
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Both livestreams will include Christmas music and a portion where Hall shares the Gospel in English with translation. The Russian livestream will feature musician Roman Kasevich and Pastor Artur Simonyan. The Spanish one, titled Navidad en Casa, will feature Latin music star Ricardo Montaner and Guatemalan megachurch pastor Cash Luna.
Luna leads Casa de Dios, one of the largest churches in Latin America, and is a controversial faith healer. He faced scrutiny in 2015 when he declared that a 15-year-old girl suffering from cerebral thrombosis was healed. But soon after, she had a heart attack and died. While the healing event was free, attendees were asked to each give an offering of 500 Mexican pesos. The pastor was also linked to an imprisoned drug lord in a report but sued over the “false statements.”
Hall said he has previously shared the Gospel alongside Luna as well as others such as evangelist Franklin Graham and hip hop artist Lecrae. All of them, he noted, have people who say positive and negative things about them.
He said of Luna, “I have experienced him to be a kind and sincere man. He’s also honest about the struggles and accusations. I don’t know a lot about what has happened.
“I will share the Gospel anywhere that I can.”
Montaner, who has sold 65 million records worldwide, decided to participate in the event after hearing about it from mutual friends, Hall said. He won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Album in 2013 and 2019.
“He has been called the Billy Joel of Latin America,” said Hall. “He’s a person of faith. He’s a Jesus person. He loves Jesus, believes in Jesus, has been connected to a church for the majority of his life or career. He’s an incredibly gracious man and kindhearted.”
In evangelizing people from around the world, Hall said Christians should find ways to connect and understand local contexts. To do so, they should be all things to all people and often be willing to enter uncomfortable situations.
“You have to do your best to be a student of people. One thing I learned from Billy Graham is he would look at local newspapers before he would speak,” Hall said. “He said, ‘An evangelist should have a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.’”
Hall encouraged people to watch the Dec. 24 livestream because it’s an opportunity to learn about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas.
“Christmas is about family and Christmas is about hope and Christmas is about Jesus,” he stressed. “Hopefully this program will bring some light into people’s living rooms.”
